(Brazil News Dispatch)
MANAUS, Amazonas – President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff and former President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, joined the governor of Amazonas, Omar Jose Abdel Azziz in attending the inauguration of the Black River Bridge on Monday, 24 October. The 3.5 km bridge, which cost more than one billion reals (about U.S. six hundred million dollars), connects the capital of Amazonas, Manaus to its neighbor across the river, Iranduba.
Click image to enlarge (Photo: Chico Batata)
Today was the first time the former and current presidents of Brazil have shared a podium since the inauguration of Rousseff, and it is the 342 anniversary of the founding of Manaus. Lula, who spoke first, praised his successor and praised the people of Amazonia for the vote of confidence given by them in the election of Dilma, as Rousseff is known in Brazil, in the election of 2010.
When Dilma spoke, she praised her predecessor, Lula. She also announced the extension of the Free Trade Zone in the region for another 50 years. Before the speech, Dilma put on an indigenous headdress somebody in the crown had given her.
The Black River Bridge (Ponte Rio Negro), which traverses the river of the same name, connects the neighboring cities of Manaus and Iranduba. At 3,595 meters (about 2.5 miles) long, it is the longest bridge in the Amazon. The billion real price tag included access roads and ramps.
Many in Brazil consider the bridge to be excessive and it has come under scathing attack in forums such as twitter, where the hashtag “pontedobilhão” trends heavily whenever the bridge is in the news. At times today, the hashtag was seeing hundreds of tweets per minute, mostly critical but some in favor of the bridge.
Click to enlarge (photo: Planalto)
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Brazilian online news source for this article: terra.com.br
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